I have a few friends with Crohn's disease -- the often-disabling inflammable bowel disorder -- so a new study really struck me.
The study followed 600 people in Switzerland with Crohn's disease for 18 months. A full 19% of these people were found to have the criteria for PTSD. And those people with both Crohn's and PTSD had the worst of both worlds -- they were 13 times more likely to have had their Crohn's symptoms get worse in that 18-month period, possibly due to hormonal and immune system responses.
Crohn's causes severe pain and constant diarrhea, leaving patients with a constant state of panic about their pending symptoms. This never-ending stress is what can trigger PTSD in some patients.
The doctors behind the study, which appeared Dec. 2 in the journal Frontline Gastroenterology, say that Crohn's can not be cured, but PTSD can -- not necessarily true, but it is more treatable -- so treating the two conditions together could help reduce the symptoms from Crohn's disease.
Read more here:
Study Suggests Link Between Crohn's Disease and PTSD
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